With Marouane Chamakh set to go to the Africa Cup of Nations, manager Arsene Wenger will be short of striking options next month. Wenger has also made the misfiring Morocco forward, who has been linked with a return to France, available for transfer.

Podolski's current deal expires at the end of next season, but Cologne would listen to offers next month. He is sixth in Germany's all-time leading goalscorers list with 43 - needing only five more to leapfrog third-placed Jurgen Klinsmann.